Hans Petruschke's post inspired me to get out and check out some spots that I covered for the OBBAII at Deer Creek. I have made regular visits in the breeding season there over the years, but I hadn't been there this year since early May.

I started out and ended the day in the northern part of the state wildlife area in Fayette County. Among the first birds I saw was a female Blue Grosbeak feeding in a field, at least I thought it was. I heard its distinctive chip note and saw its silhouette and I know the bird pretty well. On the way out of the area in the evening I went back just to double check and get a better look. When walking along the row of trees where I last saw the bird I heard a singing grosbeak, more liquid in quality than I expected, but it was a grosbeak. Finally getting my binoculars on the bird, I see that it was a Rose-breasted! Thinking I was losing my mind I went back into the field to look around when I soon flushed a male Blue Grosbeak offering excellent views. It flew into the same clump of trees that the Rose-breasted was singing in. How often do those two grosbeak species nest together in the same group of trees? For the OBBAII I found zero Rose-breasted Grosbeaks in any of the 6 atlas blocks that I did at Deer Creek. I did find 5 pairs of Blue Grosbeaks in 3 different atlas blocks for the OBBAII, but not that particular one.

Onward to the spot where I have found Bell's Vireos over the years. In 2007 for the OBBAII I found 2 singing males along a hedgerow. One bird continued into July and was confirmed nesting when I saw the female carrying food, while the second bird was gone, apparently unmated after a week or two. I again heard one male in the general area in 2008, 2009, and 2012. Much to my delight I found 2 singing male Bell's Vireos again today in virtually the same places that the 2 birds from 2007 were found. The fact that they're both still singing persistently at this late date suggests that they're both paired up and nesting.

The next stop was the southern wetlands at New Holland. When the OBBAII started in 2006 those wetlands didn't exist. South of what I now call the middle pond was just grassland. In June 2006 it was loaded with probably 100 pairs of Grasshopper Sparrows and about 60 singing Dickcissels. Then ODNR went in and dug the ditches that now form forked rows of cattails that has become the great area it is now. I haven't seen another Dickcissel anywhere in there since 2006 (but they occasionally can be found elsewhere in the DCWA) and Grasshopper Sparrows have become fewer and fewer over the years. Henslow's Sparrows, first recorded there in 2007 can now be considered common there. Today I found no Grasshopper Sparrows in there at all (but a few were in a field N of the reservoir) but perhaps a dozen or so Henslow's Sparrows were still singing. Other birds found in the southern wetland tract today included Common Gallinule, Virginia Rail, Sora, and several Great Egrets. Unexpected was a female Lesser Scaup. As soon as it saw me in went back into hiding in the cattails. I have no idea what it was doing there or if it was nesting. I saw neither Marsh or Sedge Wrens in there today, but they both have nested there in the past few years. Sedge Wrens could possibly show up in a week or two for a second nesting. Conditions look good for them right now. Least Bitterns and King Rails probably nested there in 2012. I saw no signs of them today, but they could be in the area somewhere.

Bob Royse



Robert Royse
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www.roysephotos.com

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